


Trick of the Light

by ideallyqualia



Series: Rare Pairs [12]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Universe, KuniKage Week, M/M, Pining, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-13 10:35:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3378368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/pseuds/ideallyqualia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kageyama thought it was fleeting. A day turned into a month, and he still wasn't convinced.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trick of the Light

**Author's Note:**

> For the KuniKage Week day 2 prompt: dreams.

Kageyama remembered middle school as a mess, and he pretended some of it didn't happen. Or he just didn't think about it. 

It was hard to deny memories when living reminders stood in front of him, though. Finding Kindaichi in the hallway after their practice match was a terrible coincidence, and Kunimi behind him may have been the worst display of luck Kageyama ever experienced. 

"Don't apologize," Kindaichi snapped. "We're not teammates."

Kageyama didn't know if he was going to actually apologize, but Kindaichi sounded adamant about refusing any kind of sentimental, regretful comment. Kunimi stood quietly behind Kindaichi a few feet away, his head lifted to see around Kindaichi's head. Kageyama couldn't tell why. He wasn't mirroring Kindaichi's anger, and he wasn't walking away, just watching. 

Kageyama grew subdued from Kunimi's expression. Kunimi had never quite been a friend, and "teammate" became a loose term in their third year, but Kageyama could appreciate the smooth contours of his face and curl of bangs framing his forehead. That was something he couldn't burn into his memory properly, and he didn't remember what it was like to look directly at Kunimi until he was in the moment.

Kindaichi and Kunimi walked away, leaving Kageyama to turn it over in his head.

 

* * *

 

Kageyama couldn't remember, but he thought about it. Minutes after Kunimi left, he tried to remember Kunimi's face, but he didn't have a smile or frown or anything significant for Kageyama to note. Kunimi didn't even speak that day, so Kageyama hadn't heard his voice since middle school.

Oikawa interrupted the team before they could leave. He gave Kageyama a dubiously flattering threat, and Kageyama felt irritated that Oikawa came on his own. Oikawa was  _too_ easy to remember, since he was a stubborn thorn that polarized everyone. He came alone, and he wasn't pleased with seeing Kageyama distracted during their conversation.

Hinata noticed next. Hinata asked him on the bus ride home why he was looking out the window, and he had to ask multiple times. Hinata was more persistent than Oikawa, and Hinata sat with him at lunch. He could bother Kageyama as much as he wanted. Kageyama couldn't put it into words, why he wished he could see and hear Kunimi as vividly as if he was there. Hinata grew bored of listening to a string of nonsense or simple silence, and just blamed Kageyama's fragmented attention on a weird series of day dreams.

Kageyama balked at the word choice. Hinata drifted so much in class that he was convinced that that was Kageyama's problem, too, and he didn't think it was negotiable. Kageyama was day dreaming.

"What do you day dream about, anyway?" Hinata asked.

Kageyama knew it'd be ridiculous to say that it was about a person, someone he didn't even talk to, so he didn't tell. He didn't say that he imagined Kunimi had a gentle smile if he wasn't focused on anything, or had a ringing laugh. Kageyama could barely remember from the start; he could only rely on wistful echoes of details. Calling it  _fantasy,_  though, was a stretch. Even if Kageyama had no reason to wonder if Kunimi had warm skin or a soft stomach, and it wasn't a memory at all, just a thought, he didn't want to label it a fantasy.

Even if it wasn't, it was hard to let go. A couple days turned into a week, and Hinata complained that he was sighing a lot during lunch. That development dredged the topic up again, and Hinata didn't want to stop this time. When Kageyama finally caved, Hinata cooed.

"Oooh, it's a girl?"

"It's a  _person_."

That didn't curb Hinata's interest. He wanted to meet whoever it was that had Kageyama's attention in class, and the way Hinata painted it sounded dangerously like a crush.

Kageyama tried to frown, but Hinata told him it was almost a smile. He really frowned then, and he told Hinata that it wasn't what he thought it was. A month-long hold on it didn't help his case, and Suga didn't think so either when Hinata dragged him in.

"You don't have to say who it is if you don't want to," Suga said with a sigh.

Hinata's consequent whine didn't work on him, but an endless amount of it on Kageyama could.

Constant inquiry made Kageyama spill, grudgingly, just to keep Hinata quiet, but it made Hinata's interest so much worse. Hinata wanted to tell the whole team, and his questions became more specific. He wanted to know what Kunimi was like, if he could perform a quick, or if they had exchanged numbers. Hinata wanted to know if Kunimi  _knew,_ and if he thought Kunimi was pretty or smart.

At that point, Kageyama didn't understand why he even kept Kunimi's name to himself if it didn't mean anything. He thought about it alone, at night, if it was stupid of him to not recognize that something deeper was going on. When he was alone, he ended up sitting and pulling his knees to his chest to think about it.

After inter high, it was definitely a crush, he decided. It felt tight and solid in his chest as he looked at Kunimi, and when their loss against Seijou faded, he could still feel the sting of wanting to remember more.

**Author's Note:**

> not tagged as unrequited because I didn't say kunimi didn't like him.
> 
> (General A/N that exists at the end of all my fics): I find unsolicited concrit really rude, I'm not looking for any. Please don't tell me someone was OOC/something happened you didn't like/it's too short/etc. in any bookmarks or comments.


End file.
